Letter: Ed Markey Is A True Progressive
Ed Markey. Photo: Wikipedia
I strongly encourage people to vote for Ed Markey in the Massachusetts primary, September 1. I have followed his work in the Senate for years and know him to be a true progressive. He is one of the authors of the Green New Deal. He is endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — they worked together writing the Green New Deal – as well as Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, the Boston Globe, and moveon.org.
Ed Markey has been a leader for many, many years in nuclear disarmament. He is the lead sponsor of the Preserving Leadership Against Nuclear Explosives Testing (PLANET) Act, which would prevent the Trump administration from restarting explosive nuclear weapons testing by restricting funds for fiscal year 2021 and all previous years from being used for such a purpose.
Meanwhile, Trump is committed to resuming nuclear weapons testing. Recently the Mitch McConnell Senate agreed to give Trump funds to resume nuclear testing for the first time in decades, a move, thankfully, blocked by the House. The idea of starting nuclear weapons testing again is truly insane. Markey has made prevention of nuclear testing a priority.
Senator Markey joined Bernie Sanders with an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to reduce the funding by 10% and redirect to a grant program to fund healthcare, housing and education. Frances Crowe would want us to vote for Ed Markey!
Ed has seniority in the Senate and that means access and agency.
Joe Kennedy might make a fine senator one day; he already is a fine Congressman. But he should wait his turn and not take out one of Massachusetts’ and the country’s most influential, progressive leaders in Washington who is getting things done.
Meg Gage
I apparently had unreliable information regarding Pelosi’s endorsement. I have no idea why she has endorsed Kennedy except that Kennedy raised a lot of money in 2018 for the Democratic House candidates who won back the majority that year. She owes him, I guess.
Pelosi opposes Green New Deal and Medicare For All. Markey is an enthusiastic supporter of both.
Replace a progressive with someone with stronger corporate loyalties.
Markey was one of George Bush’s Iraq War supporters. A war that destabilized the Mideast killed 100,000s of Iraq’s citizens and left 1,000s of American soldiers dead and maimed. When he was called on to show courage and judgement he came up short. It’s time for new representation.
I would find the argument about the Iraq War vote more persuasive if this were a recent or live vote and Kennedy were, you know, primarying him from the left based on that vote. But in fact, Kennedy is not trying to primary from the left; he’s just throwing a variety of attacks — old votes, not here enough, too progressive, not progressive enough — to see what sticks. I have yet to see a compelling case that Kennedy will be *more* progressive than Markey. (Did Kennedy publicly protest the Iraq War, by the way?)
To me, Markey gave the Green New Deal legs by lending it his respectable, senior legislator status. He put his own credibility behind progressive legislation, when plenty of others did not, and thus *significantly* helped to advance it. That’s not just someone phoning it in with progressive votes from a Democratic state, which is (as far as I can tell) what Kennedy has done. Markey is currently a progressive leader; Kennedy promises that he will be, but so far, in the House, he hasn’t stood out. So right now, I’m looking at an older white man who has been putting his considerable privilege behind AOC’s work, and on serious issues that are not necessarily sexy but show deep thought and progressive commitment (e.g., net neutrality). Versus a young white man, who is angling to get into a long-life position that will launch him for the presidency; he talks a good talk but hasn’t done much. I see no particular reason to give him a chance when I am extremely happy with what Markey has been doing in the Senate.
“Time for a change” language could apply to someone primarying from the left. It could apply to someone primarying from a different and underrepresented identity. It applies in the case of Morse vs. Neal. It just doesn’t apply here.
Kennedy would get a lot more respect from me if he passed the mic to a woman of color & worked to lift up other voices than simply his own. Maybe he should consider allowing the Kennedy name to support the work of less wealthy, less white, less male candidates. Right now, a vote for Kennedy is a vote AGAINST change — moving away from someone who is working successfully for progressive change, and moving toward someone who will maintain straight white maleness in the Senate for years to come until he tries to put more straight white maleness in the presidency.
Vote for Markey now, and vote for a progressive Justice Democrat woman of color when she runs.
@Meg Gage — I like Pelosi for her balls-to-the-wall (which apparently is an aviation term) approach in dealing with Republicans, but in terms of intra-party politics, Pelosi’s endorsement is kind of an anti-endorsement for me. If Kennedy is trying to portray himself as to the left of Markey, Pelosi’s endorsement does not help him. So it seems he’s given up that battle and is now selling himself to the right of Markey. Pick a lane!
I agree with Laura that Kennedy has been trying to attack Markey from the right AND the left but at heart he is a quintessential corporate democrat. He is the third largest recipient of hedge fund money in the House and has worked to prevent legislation that would more aggressively tax hedge fund profits. Here’s the numbers (from Sludge).
“Kennedy is is the third-largest House recipient of hedge fund industry cash in the current election cycle, with $99,840 from the industry (not including any additional contributions that may be disclosed in his just-filed Q2 report), and the fifth-largest House recipient from the private equity and investment industry, with at least $190,433. ”
For me, the financial industry is at the core of what has gotten us into this mess and it’s hard for me to support one of its most loyal defenders.
Markey isn’t a saint. His ancient vote in favor of the Iraq war is shameful. But he rescued the Green New Deal with his sponsorship and he has been unapologetic about his embrace of Medicare for all.
I’m still trying to figure out the justification for Kennedy’s candidacy.
The Green New Deal and Medicare for All are nice aspirational goals but neither is going to happen any time soon. The best we can hope for is incremental progress over the long haul. Both the problems and the solutions will take a generation or two to solve. So lets elect a new generation. I would also vote for Morse if I could.
Frances Crowe main legacy was her anti war position. The “ancient vote” for wars that are still going on and still has significance particularly to the Iraq widows, orphans, and US Vets. I know Biden voted for the war but it’s him or the devil and I didn’t vote for him in the primary.
Kennedy’s uncle voted against the war and he was a Peace Corps Volunteer. That’s good enough for me.
The Squad, Katie Porter, and a few others have shown that real leadership in your first term of Congress is entirely possible.
The young(ish) Kennedy has been in the House since 2013. Has he led on anything, let alone on something meant to better the lives of the most vulnerable among us? If so, it’s news to me.
I disapprove of anyone’s vote to invade Iraq. However, Ed Markey has become and for years has remained a leader, on the ‘life’ side of issues that are life and death for us as individual Americans and for us as a species. They are real fights. Winning is not guaranteed. A proven leader and fighter has my vote.
Well, Bill Pula summed up what seems to be the primary argument for Kennedy: His connections with illustrious Kennedys. “Kennedy’s uncle voted against the war and he was a Peace Corps Volunteer. That’s good enough for me.” That’s definitely not good enough for me.
Sarah McKee, above, points out that “The young(ish) Kennedy has been in the House since 2013. Has he led on anything, let alone on something meant to better the lives of the most vulnerable among us? If so, it’s news to me.”
His campaign calls to mind Senator Lloyd Bentsen’s memorable debate line: “I knew Jack Kennedy… Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.)
I don’t appreciate telling me why I’m voting for Kennedy. I’m voting against Markey because he didn’t stand up against the worst foreign policy decision of the century and a crime against humanity the Iraq War that was never investigated because both parties were involved.
If Markey wins it will be fine but I’d rather vote for Kennedy. OK
Thank you for telling me why I will vote for Kennedy. I was a Peace Corp Volunteer in 1974 in the same country Joe served in and it was a transformative experience. If Markey wins it will be fine and I will support him but I want to vote for Kennedy.